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Mothers hope emotional reunion leads to hikers' release from Iran

Three Americans jailed in Iran for 10 months
embraced their mothers and spoke of their life in Tehran's most
dreaded prison Thursday in an emotional reunion that Iranian
authorities broadcast on a main international channel.

The women hope their weeklong visit will secure the release of
Sarah Shourd, 31; her boyfriend, Shane Bauer, 27; and their friend
Josh Fattal, 27.

The mothers threw their arms in the air and rushed to embrace
their children as they entered a room at a high-rise hotel that
overlooks the Evin Prison where the three have been held.

They cried, laughed and kissed. The conservative Islamic head
scarves worn by the mothers slipped back and bouquets of flowers
were set aside as they sat together and began to reconstruct their
lives since last summer.

The families later ate an abundant lunch together at a feast of
rice, kebabs and other traditional Middle Eastern dishes. The
prisoners ate heartily and appeared to relish the food.

The visit
was scheduled to last until evening, said the families' Iranian
lawyer, Masoud Shafii, but it was not clear whether the three
detainees would have to return to the prison for the night.

Iran's main task appeared aimed at leveraging high propaganda
value for allowing the visit.

Emotional reunionAP Photo/Press TV

The meeting at the Esteghlal Hotel in north Tehran received
extensive coverage on Iran's state-run Press TV, the government's
main English-language broadcast arm. Reporters for the foreign
media also were allowed their first glimpse of the three Americans
since their arrest on the border with Iraq last July.

The trio has been accused of spying and entering Iran illegally
after being detained on the porous border with Iraq last July.
Relatives say the three were simply hiking in Iraq's scenic and
largely peaceful mountainous northern Kurdish region.

The decision to give a highly scripted public face to the
private family moments suggests the trip by Nora Shourd, Cindy
Hickey and Laura Fattal could be drawn deeper into Iran's
brinksmanship with the West over Tehran's disputed nuclear program
and a U.S.-led push for harsher sanctions.

Lawyer Shafii predicted it was "very unlikely" that the jailed
Americans would be allowed to return home with their mothers
because the case has not yet reached the courts.

But he added in an interview with AP Television News that
decisions could be made outside the normal legal framework.
"Anything can happen," he said.

The three prisoners did not specifically address any of the
accusations. It's unclear whether this was their decision or a
requirement by Iranian officials.

Detained in IranAP Photo/Press TV

Iran granted the women visas to visit their children in what it
called an "Islamic humanitarian gesture" and the Americans
appealed to them to release the three on the same grounds.

"We hope we're going home soon, maybe with our mothers," Josh
Fattal said as the group was interviewed while seated together on a
low-slung couch.

Added Shane Bauer: "We don't really know much what's going on
outside prison. We hope that Iran can continue with humanitarian
gestures, like letting our mothers come, by releasing us on
humanitarian grounds."

The three prisoners appeared healthy, wearing jeans and
polo-style shirts. Sarah Shourd wore a maroon-colored head scarf.

They described their routines behind bars and the small things
that take on major significance: being allowed books, letters from
home, the ability for some exercise and the one hour each day they
are all together.

The last direct contact with their families was a five-minute
phone call in March.

Sarah Shourd said the their treatment by the Iranian authorities
has been "decent" and loneliness has been the hardest part of her
detention because she was isolated as a woman.

"Shane and Josh are in a room together but I'm alone and that's
the most difficult thing for me ... I am alone for 23 hours," she
said.

In the other hour, "we sing together and tell each other
stories about our life," she said.

Swiss diplomats, who represent U.S. interests in Iran, have
reported that Sarah was suffering a serious gynecological
condition, while Bauer had a stomach ailment. But such health
issues were not raised publicly during the meeting.

Shafii said the mothers were seeking to bring their appeal to
the highest levels, even hoping for meetings with President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the
final say in all state matters.

Hickey, Shane Bauer's mother, expressed gratitude "to the
Islamic Republic of Iran and the authorities for granting us a
visa."

"We know that this is a great humanitarian act that they have
given to us. Our reception was wonderful when we came into Iran,"
she said in comments aired on Press TV.

On Wednesday, Iran's minister of intelligence, Heydar Moslehi,
repeated the claims that the trio were involved in espionage.

But Shafii noted that the three have not formally been charged
and said allegations have come only from "nonjudicial officials."

The case could face complications from Iran's diplomatic
showdown with the U.S. and its allies. Just before the mothers'
arrival in Tehran, the United States said it had won support from
other major powers for a new set of U.N. Security Council sanctions
against Iran over its refusal to stop uranium enrichment.

The U.S., which has not had formal diplomatic relations with
Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and its allies accuse
Tehran of seeking atomic weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program
is for peaceful purposes.

In recent years, a number of foreigners held by Iranian
authorities on espionage and other security-related charges have
been released after months of detention - most recently French
academic Clotilde Reiss, 24. She was freed last week after more
than 10 months in jail. She had been accused of provoking unrest
and spying during unrest that broke out after June's disputed
presidential election.

Hickey lives in Minnesota, Shourd is from Oakland, California,
and Fattal is from suburban Philadelphia.